Lessons from Harappan civilization By donnalee in donnalee's Diary Mon May 25, 2009 at 11:03:34 AM EST Tags: india, economics (all tags)
	A much-cited example, depicted on some of the Harappan seals, is that of a big-nosed gentleman wearing a horned head-dress who sits in the lotus position with an erect penis, an air of abstraction and an audience of animals. (page 14) http://www.saivaneri.orgimages/harappan-pashupati-siva.gif

Although probably not dancing, the 'dancing girl' is unquestionably 'a pleasing little thing'. Naked save for a chunky necklace and an assortment of bangles, this miniscule statuette is not of the the usual Indian sex symbol, full of breast and wide of hip, but of a slender nymphet happily flaunting her puberty with delightful insouciance. (page 15) http://www.semp.usimages/Biot576PhotoN.jpg Several thousand seals and sealings have now been found. The seals appear to have been distributed throughout the Harappan world, not simply in its major population centres, and to have been carried about or worn, each having a boss or hole by which they could be threaded on a string. The distribution of the sealings suggests that seals may have been used to facilitate the exchange of goods over long distances. Thus the stamped image, attached to a consignment of goods, might have identified their owner, provenance, destination or contents, and so have served somewhat the role of a waybill or even a bar-code. Clearly, if this was indeed their purpose, their multiplicity and far-flung distribution argues for a vast and buzzing commercial network. Perhaps, instead of conspicuous expenditure on monuments and memorials, the Harappans pumped their surplus into commodity exchange. It has even been suggested that the Harappans were so dependent on this exchange that its apparent decline in the early second millenium BC was a cause, rather than an effect, of the disintegration of urban life. (page 17) India: a History (John Keay, 2000)

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